


there's always hope in the dark

by Skyuni123



Series: 17 (should have been 25 but i messed up) Days of a Self-Flagellating Christmas [3]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Angst, Christmas, Christmas Presents, Christmas Tree, F/M, Fluff, Hopeful Ending, Loss, M/M, Snow, set after rory is erased from time but before he comes back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-10 20:25:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12919599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyuni123/pseuds/Skyuni123
Summary: The Doctor and Amy (minus Rory) at Christmas.





	there's always hope in the dark

**Author's Note:**

> prompt was 'decorations'

“It’s Christmas.” Amy decides one day. 

“Is it?” The Doctor’s fairly sure that it’s not - at least in her timeline (because it’s always Christmas somewhere).

“ _ Yes _ .” Amy stands in front of him, hands on her hips. “I’ve not had a Christmas since  _ before  _ I started travelling with you and do you know how bad that is? Seriously bad.”

 

“Alright. Alright!” In all truth, festivities had been very far from his mind since he’d… lost Rory. It was hard to think of having fun when there was such a hole in his and Amy’s lives. Though he’d been uncomfortable with the nurse’s presence in his TARDIS at the beginning, he’d started to warm to the younger man. Although Amy wasn’t aware of the loss, he was sure that she felt it - even subconsciously. She’d been subdued since they’d lost Rory, and she didn’t know why. “What do you want to do for Christmas?”

 

“Go somewhere.” She says immediately. “We have all of time and space in front of us - surely  _ somewhere  _ is having Christmas.”

“Are you sure?” Normally, he’d jump at the chance to go exploring, but every Christmas it seemed like the world was out to get him. He can’t remember a time when he’d  _ had  _ a restful Christmas.

Amy pouts. “Yes!” 

 

“Okay.” He can work with this. He wants to see Amy happy,  _ wants  _ it in every fibre of his being, and if making Christmas happen does that, he’ll make Christmas happen. “Where do you want to go?”

“Earth.” She reads into his surprised glance. “Don’t look at me like that. Come on. I love the entire universe and all but there’s nothing better than an Earth Christmas.”

He supposes he can’t disagree with that. “Where on earth?”

“Enough questions, Raggedy Man. You have a TARDIS, let her figure it out!”

So he does.

 

She lands them outside the Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt in 2081. A fine sheet of snow covers the landscape around them. “The Christkindlesmarkt! The humans think it was created in the 1600s,” he begins, very maniacally, feeling a tad hysterical inside, “but it was  _ actually  _ created in the 1400s by the-”

“Doctor.” Amy stops him with a hand on his arm. “Calm down, eh?” She smiles softly and somehow, it’s like she  _ gets it.  _ Even though she has no idea about the circumstances of his maniacism, or why he’s too afraid to let his guard down, she somehow gets it.

“Yeah. I-yeah.”    
  


They head in to explore the market. 

  
  


The look on Amy’s face as she stares at a clear glass bauble, inlaid with shimmering stones, is so beautiful that he has to look away. She looks truly happy for the first time in a while, and he wants to do something to prolong that happiness, so he slips away, just for a moment, and returns with his coat laden with items before she’s even noticed he’s gone.

“Where to, Pond?” He asks, after she’s bought the bauble and a couple of others, and moved to link her arm through his.

“Hot chocolate, and then maybe back to the TARDIS?” She asks.

 

Leaving so soon? With nothing bad happening? It surprises him, and so he asks her why.

 

“I mean, it’s amazing here, truly amazing, it just feels like something’s missing, you know?” 

“Yes.” Does he ever. He claps his hands, refusing to let his bad mood cloud hers. “Come along, then.”   
  


They get large portable cups of hot chocolate and take them back towards the TARDIS. The rich chocolatey smell is intoxicating and calming, and the knot in the pit of his stomach begins to unwind by the time they’ve reached the TARDIS doors. 

 

Amy’s lagging behind at this point and he turns to face her. “Ready to go?”

“Wait.” She grabs his hand and drags him off around and corner and up onto a balcony, casually abandoned in the lateness of the night. “Oh,  _ wow.” _

 

Wow, indeed.

 

The sight down towards the market is breathtaking, with little lights of all colours twinkling below them, and the sounds and smells of the market stalls drifting up to greet them.

 

Amy turns to him, suddenly nervous for a reason he can’t fathom, and says, “Doctor, I have something-”

“Wait!” He yelps, and pulls several objects from his pockets. He throws one onto the ground a few metres away and it inflates into a fully formed, perfectly realistic, Christmas tree.

He turns to Amy, who is, predictably, wide-eyed. “I know it doesn’t look totally real and I was saving it for the TARDIS but I-”

His words are cut off when she hugs him. “Thank you.”

He pats her on the back, awkwardly, resolutely ignoring how good the hug feels. Amy’s with _ Rory,  _ even if he’s not here right now. “Wait wait wait wait wait, I have more!”

 

He tosses one ball, which explodes out into a shower of stars which land on the tree and illuminate it, and other, which separates out into glowing circle ornaments, full of wonder and promise and  _ hope.  _ “Christmas at the end of the 21st century, Pond, hope you like it.” He murmurs into her shoulder, and then turns her around so she can see the sights.

 

Her silence is answer enough. “I know it’s probably not like what you have at home, with turkey and presents and Ror-” He stops himself, fidgeting nervously, “But I hope it’s good enough.”

“It’s wonderful, Doctor.” She pulls something from the shopping bag she’s carrying. “By the way, I thought you might like… uh… this.” 

She holds up a glass bauble, with a light blue hologram of the TARDIS inside and places it in his outstretched hand. “I know it’s not much compared to the wonders you’ve showed me but -”

“It’s perfect.” The bauble is beautiful and hums gently as he places it on the tree. “Thank you, Pond.” 

 

He should have more to give her, but for now, this is the best he can do. 

 

“I love the tree, by the way. Very  _ chic. _ ” She elbows him in the side and takes her hot chocolate over to sit on the edge of the balcony. “What’s this place like usually? Earth in 2081’s gotta be  _ something _ .”

 

The human race on the brink of one of the biggest wars of its history… People displaced and burning in the streets… Humans clawing their way back from the dark… Gifts under trees, no matter how small.

 

“Hopeful.” He says, and joins her. “It’s hopeful.”

Because no matter how dark it is, there’s always hope. 

**Author's Note:**

> hmu at my [ tumblr ](http://villainousfilmmaker.tumblr.com)


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